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“I’m glad to know you’ve found your voice again. I was getting worried since you didn’t speak all day.” Now probably wasn’t the best time to be provoking him, but I couldn’t help myself. I reached in my purse for the camera. “Smile,” I instructed, snapping a picture of him. I thought he was going to lunge across the space between us and snatch the camera from me, but instead he gripped his thighs.
I faced the view of the town and the lake below as we rose above it. I crooked my finger at him and slid over a little to make room for him on my side. I was surprised when he actually moved.
The sun sank lower in the sky, making the scene picture perfect. I took his hand in mine and leaned my head against his shoulder. “What were you trying to accomplish? And don’t lie to me. You knew that wasn’t going to fly. You were already fucking whoever you wanted before you met me, so there was no reason to change anything if that’s all you wanted.”
He let out a long breath. “You’re getting too close. Making me discuss things I don’t talk about with anyone. Things I don’t want to even think about anymore.”
I lifted my head. “D, they’re on your mind whether I bring them up or not.”
“I know.” He blinked at me, a vulnerability in his eyes that made my heart melt. “I hope I didn’t spoil your day.”
“How could that possibly happen when I’m in New Zealand with you?” I smiled, and he gave me a tentative one in return, looking almost awestruck.
“I’m an idiot for even asking this, but I’m a glutton for punishment,” he prefaced. “You’re not going to hold this over my head? Rub my face in it?”
I stroked his cheek. “No. I knew you were up to something, so I had to make a point.”
“Do notevercall another man handsome in my presence,” he warned.
The possessiveness made me tingle all over. “Were you jealous?” I taunted. He made it so hard not to smile sometimes.
“You already know I don’t do jealous,” he scoffed, denying it to the end.
“I think you do.” I leaned in, my lips almost touching his ear. “Don’t worry. I know it’s only for me.”
“Don’t put me in that position again.” God, when all that intensity was focused on me, it was hard to breathe.
“I’m more than happy to oblige as long as you don’t force my hand again.” With that the air was cleared. “Guess this means we’re past our impasse.” This earned me his first real smile of the day. “Although I’m kinda coming around to seeing things your way. I get youandwhoever else I want? That’s not such a bad deal.”
His eyes turned ominous as I struggled to keep an innocent look on my face. Teasing him was just too easy.
“No one else, Vivian. Only me.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “If that’s the way it’s got to be—”
“It is.”
I grinned at him, and he scowled because I’d gotten my way again. “See? No one had to compromise. I know I’m the only one you have any interest in anyway,” I said confidently.
He lifted his brow. “You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
“I think you’ve given me plenty of reasons to be,” I said coyly, then hopped to my feet as the gondola arrived at the top of the mountain. “Let’s go check out the view.”
“From where I’m sitting, the view’s pretty damn spectacular.” His eyes were ravenous as he drank me in from head to toe. I had on my holey jeans—which were freshly laundered—and a gray V-neck T-shirt from Target. Nothing to write home about. I didn’t think it would have mattered to him if I was in vintage Valentino. He wasn’t hiding his desire.
I pulled him up, giving him acontrol yourselflook before we stepped onto the platform. Hand in hand, we walked over to a viewing area that overlooked the town below. The sky was burnt orange as the sun set on another day. I snapped a few pictures, and we observed this daily ritual in silence. The lake had taken on an almost black hue as opposed to the navy it had had earlier. The mountains surrounding it still had a dusting of snow on their peaks, and I committed the scene to memory, one I could reflect on for the rest of my life.
“I think your label is far better than conventional ones,” Daniel said, and I realized he’d had his eyes on me, not the view.
I dumped the camera back into my purse and took both his hands in mine. “Everything,” I said with reverence.
“Everything,” he repeated with equal respect. “Think you can handle that, Princess?”
“Don’t worry about me. You just make sure you’re up to the challenge.”
He pulled me flush against him, causing all the air to leave my lungs.
His eyes glittered like polished stones as he looked down at me. “Promise you’ll give me all you’ve got.”
